The Sick Day
by Cynique
Summary: Hikaru gets sick, but Akira mysteriously fails to show up at his house. AkiHika flavored parody.


The Sick Day

A little parody of all those romance fics with the "Chara A gets sick, Chara B makes them feel better, wink" plot.

It was a glorious spring day in April. The sun was shining, the cherry trees were blooming, and the temperature was a balmy sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Shindou Hikaru had a fun-filled day of go planned, playing the seedier salons with Isumi and Waya to make some quick cash, followed by a rousing game with his sexy rival, Touya Akira. But his great plans were unexpectedly laid waste by that sneaky enemy who comes in the night to rob us of our fun. Hikaru woke up with a raging fever.

"Hikaru, I think you should stay in bed today," his mother told him after feeling his forehead. "I'll make you some soup."

"But Mom!" he protested weakly, "I already made plans today!"

"You'll just have to call your friends and tell them you can't go. I'm not letting you leave the house like this," his mother replied, handing Hikaru his cell phone.

And there was no arguing with his mother when she used that voice. He texted Waya to let him know he would not be able to play with him and Isumi, and left a message with Akira's mother. He then sat in bed with a go board on his lap, idly recreating old games and feeling quite disappointed and sorry for himself.

Then Hikaru had a thought: Wouldn't Akira, his sexy rival, who was obviously hot for him, come over bearing medicine, kifu, and affection? It was only natural. Akira was a smart guy, and he would undoubtedly realize that Hikaru needed him and recognize the opportunity for romance. With this in mind, Hikaru suddenly felt optimistic and played his game boy happily while waiting for the knock on his door that would herald his rival's appearance.

But the day wore on, and Akira did not appear. Hikaru didn't understand. Akira wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this for nothing. He knew that his rival didn't have any pro games, and couldn't have had any other plans if they had already planned to meet that afternoon. After seven, it was obvious that he would not appear.

Then he heard a knock at the front door, and his mother telling Akira (it just had to be him!) that Hikaru was upstairs in his room, and warning him that he had a fever. Hikaru leapt out of bed and quickly brushed his hair and wiped his snotty face before lying in bed as alluringly as possible. He was going for a "cute, helpless invalid" look. When he heard the knock at his bedroom door, he was ready.

"Come in," he called, a little too eagerly.

Akari opened the door tentatively, peeking around it. She watched with confusion as the contrived helpless look on his face turned into a smile, then came crashing down into anger and disappointment, then to a false smile.

Now Hikaru was pissed. Who told Akari that he was sick? What right did she have to come over when he was expecting someone else? Damn, he thought, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. But he put on a happy face and obligingly played a few teaching games with her.

The next day Hikaru felt fine, physically, but Akira had not visited, and he was pissed. He went to the go salon, where Akira was sure to be. Sure enough, he was sitting at their usual table near the back. Hikaru walked over, trying not to stomp too loudly. Hearing his approach, Akira looked up:

"Ah, Shindou. Are you feeling better today?" he asked pleasantly.

"Like hell I am! Where were you yesterday? I was sick!"

Akira was highly confused. "You just answered your own question. You were sick. I didn't want to bother you, or get sick myself."

Hikaru let out a massive sigh. Perhaps Akira was not as smart as he once thought. Or maybe he was just one of those really smart kids with no social skills. Yes, that must be it. But that didn't excuse Akira's conspicuous absence yesterday. What could he possibly have been doing that was more important than him?

"Then what did you do yesterday?" he demanded. He felt a tinge of doubt. Perhaps Akira wasn't really hot for him like he thought.

"Well, since you couldn't come, I called one of my students and offered to tutor her for a few hours," he replied, still confused at Hikaru's anger. "Why does it matter?"

Hikaru sighed again, and launched into a long rant about the social acceptability of visiting the people you were totally hot for when they fell ill, in order to make them feel better.

Akira marveled at Hikaru's forwardness and wondered what the term 'hot for' meant. It didn't really make sense to him, but he was afraid to ask, as Hikaru seemed really annoyed. It was true that Akira liked him very much, more than he should, in fact, but there were few things he hated more that getting sick.

Hikaru saw the confusion on his face, and further doubted Akira's feelings of hotness. Perhaps he should just sit down and play. His doubts were alleviated when Akira spoke.

"Shindou, I canceled that tutoring session because you wanted to play yesterday. I'm sorry if you thought I would go see you, but I really dislike being sick."

Aha! So he was willing to cancel tutoring sessions for him. That had to mean something. It was such an un-Touya-like thing to do. Now that he thought about it, visiting sick people didn't seem like something he would do either. They were germy and full of snot and pus.

"You canceled? For me?"

"Yes," Akira felt himself turn red thinking about it, it was so uncharacteristic of him, but they both had busy schedules and it was the only time he could see him that week, and if it meant canceling on some bratty little girl he didn't like anyway, well, Shindou was worth it.

Hikaru was definitely sure that Akira was hot for him.

"Also, I don't know where you live."

But it might take time before he realized it.


End file.
